Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump ‘asks Zelensky about striking Moscow and considers sending Tomahawk missiles’

Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday he had officially filed a resignation letter, as a part of a major governmental reshuffle expected this week.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday nominated first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko for the post.

Sweden will contribute to efforts to boost arms supplies to Ukraine following US president Donald Trump’s decision to supply billions of dollars of weapons, including Patriot missile systems, via Nato.

“We welcome the American decision to make possible increased sanctions against Russia and to pave the way for the delivery of Patriots and other weapon systems to Ukraine,” Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson said in an emailed comment to Reuters.

“Sweden will contribute.” Jonson did not provide further about the support.

Donald Trump has not turned against Vladimir Putin. Rather, he has just announced a big day of future sales for the US arms industry with a buying bonanza for Ukraine by Nato.

With the secretary general of Nato sitting next to him in the Oval Office, the US president warned that Russia would face “100 per cent” tariffs if it did not agree to a ceasefire with Kyiv inside 50 days.

He went on to criticise Putin several times for his warm approach and manner on the telephone which he then followed up by renewed missile attacks on Ukraine.

World affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:

US president Donald Trump has said billions of dollars of US weapons would go to Ukraine, including more than a dozen Patriot air defence missiles.

“We’re going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they’ll be sent to Nato,” Mr Trump said, adding that Washington’s Nato allies would pay for them.

The weapons would include Patriot air defence missiles Ukraine has urgently sought, he said.

“It’s a full complement with the batteries,” Mr Trump said. “We’re going to have some come very soon, within days.”

“We have one country that has 17 Patriots getting ready to be shipped… we’re going to work a deal where the 17 will go or a big portion of the 17 will go to the war site,” he said.

Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, who was sitting alongside Mr Trump in the Oval Office, said Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada all wanted to be a part of rearming Ukraine.

Moscow wants to understand what motivated US president Donald Trump’s statement that Russia must agree to a peace deal in Ukraine within a 50-day deadline, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Lavrov, speaking at a press conference at the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organization Foreign Ministers meeting in the Chinese city Tianjin, said he had no doubt that Russia will cope with any new sanctions.

Donald Trump, once a fierce critic of the Nato, is now far more positive about the future of the military alliance.

The US president was asked by the BBC whether Nato had become “obsolete” – a word he has used to describe it before.

“No. I think Nato is now becoming the opposite of that,” he told the broadcaster, adding that the alliance is “paying their own bills”.

In late June, Nato allies agreed to boost their defence spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product, a move the White House had repeatedly demanded since taking office.

Mr Trump added that he still believes in collective defence to allow smaller countries to defend themselves against bigger ones.

Russian forces fired 267 drones at Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, Kyiv’s air force has said.

Air defences destroyed a total of 178 of these drones, while 23 strikes were recorded across seven locations.

Drones were fired across the north, south, east and centre of the country form Monday afternoon into Tuesday.

Around 66 decoy drones disappeared from the radar or were suppressed by electronic warfare, the air force added according to Ukrainska Pravda.

British foreign minister David Lammy has welcomed Donald Trump’s decision to allow US military equipment to be used by Ukrainian forces.

“Good discussion with [US secretary of state] @marcorubio last night,” Mr Lammy wrote on X.

“I welcomed President Trump’s decision enabling NATO Allies to purchase vital US military equipment for Ukraine’s defence, including Patriots, and his threat of tariffs if there is no peace deal in 50 days.”